All New, Sparkly Fab and 40 + : Mums, Mums to Be or TTC. Come say Hi !

[jeanjeannie]

Hello all - well, this is our third message board..so it's a popular topic.

If you're a fab forty something then please come and say Hi!

The thread lives in pregnancy as that's where it started....but it's certainly no longer confined to just being about pregnancy. It's for anyone whose a gorgeous 40 something. So get a cuppa, bring some biscuits - or cake - and have a chat x

oh aye yes, 4am it was sure as eggs. But worse than that and unusually he didn't want to go back to bed!!! cried and cried.

she slept in a plastic suit jw? what madness is this?

Ah now I see jw you have been reading the Daily Mail website. My God her life sounds absolute hell - and I thought Posh gave herself a miserable time of it. It makes me laugh when you read the magazines about these daft women: "she fears she will lose the battle with age..." Ehm... hello..you can't win it! For God's sake she's fifty and has 350 million quid - relax a little already...

Yeah it was on DM website. I love that site so much as it's usually so OTT. She probably doesn't sleep in a plastic suit at all and it's just hear say/hype/gossip...just enough to sell more copies.

I feel sorry for her poor kids. They're not allowed cake (birthday or otherwise) or any other kiddie treats. What's that all about?

Also on DM site how St Jamie of the Oliver gives his wife a credit card with no limit as he knows she hardly uses it. What's the point I ask you? That girl needs a talking to.

OOOh bad news on the not going back to bed naughtiness. Are you sure it's the same cute baby as the one in the pics? K was up and wanting to be amused but DH was hobbling around bedroom complaining of his back hurting so then I got up. It was a real party We should all text each other at 4am and say what a blast we're having.....NOT

Hello to you all. Hope you're all enjoying the lovely weather.

I must be getting in training for when I have this baby as I too woke up at 4am. In lieu of a nappy change I had a wee then was back to sleep by about 5. We had friends round with their 19 month old girl last night for an early fish and chip supper so Elizabeth was late to bed. She slept in till 9 which was bliss as that meant we did too.

Quite a momentous day for us yesterday. After a false start where she woke up and pulled the electrodes off her head Elizabeth finally fell into a deep sleep and the audiologist was able to get a full reading from her right ear and a pretty good one from her left until she started to stir and sucked her thumb so loudly it was interfering with the test! The upshot is that she has hearing loss in both ears and will need to wear hearing aids She can hear speech as long as we are talking in a clear voice and she is within a metre of us. So she has been able to hear her bedtime stories etc. Her hearing loss is defined as moderate - the scale goes mild, moderate, severe, profound.

They took the moulds for the hearing aids yesterday and she should get them fitted within 4 weeks. Apparently we will get support from the Hearing Impairment Team as she will spend much of her time pulling the aids off! There will also be speech therapy appointments and regular trips to the hearing clinic to monitor her progress and making new moulds as she grows. We'll be almost matching Katherine on the health appointments johnworf

I'm glad I got the crying out of the way earlier in the week. In a way it's easier to deal with now we've got a proper diagnosis. Now we just need to help and support our lovely little girl.

jw I was going to say we should have a joint online 4am moaning session but then again if we were at liberty to do that we'd all be asleep.

I know D looks like butter wouldn't melt but he is a holy terror! He cries when tired which prevents him going to sleep and makes him more tired which makes him cry louder and so on for ages and ages!The only thing that stops him is to put him sitting on your knee so he can look around and bounce him up and down. Not so much fun at 4am!

I am a bit addicted to the DM website myself - although I hate it and its dreadful misogyny. I reckon that looking at the website is not the same as buying the rag - you get to read some silly gossip but you don't actually give them any money for it

ladymac well, good and bad I guess in that you know Elizabeth's hearing is affected but you are already on the road to doing something about it. Hopefully she will get used to hearing aids and not pull them out too much! Well done for getting her to sleep for the test!

ladymac sorry to hear that Betsy is needing aids. But it's better that you found out and she wasn't struggling along not hearing things properly. By the time she's had them on a couple of weeks, she won't even be aware they are there Trust me. Although K is trying to pull her oxygen canulae off all the time (only because she can). She'll be the same in a way, when she gets her specs

My top tips for you ladymac are; keep a diary. Of major things that happen for Betsy when the hearing aids are fitted so you can raise these when you go to her clinics and don't forget. Also, good for knowing when your appointments are and taking to clinic to check that appointments don't clash. Plus, you should be claiming for DLA (disability living allowance). This is not means tested and if you get it at the highest award, you will get carers allowance too (actually you might get it at any level so ask). We have it for Katherine and it helps. We felt guilty at first but as tax payers, we are actually entitled to it and it is for her. So get phoning DWP! If you get stuck mrsb might be able to offer some help? Not sure it's her bag though.

Oh almost forgot, if you are awarded DLA you can claim more on children's/working tax credit so you need to inform them. Sorry, I sound like I play the system but not so. Only found all this out by chance when Katherine came home and even then I wouldn't have known to claim unless my MW had told me

DM is a joke but I like the snapshot gossip column on there and the instant gossip stories. I don't buy the bloody thing. God no!

Ok chaps. Online conference call set for 4am. Rendezvous here

I am of course joking...I'll be a crochety old bitch at that time

.........whaddya mean 'and the difference is'?

Evening M'dears. Pooped again. Mammoth stroll round John Lewis - had CAKE & champers - with the mayor whatdoya know! It was JLs 20th birthday so there was a bit of a 'do' - very nice - but I would rather them have given me a Mulberry handbag

ladymac sounds like you've got Betsy sorted out with what she needs really quickly - good on you. Like you say - you got the tears out of the way and on with it. I'm a very practical kind of person and I really think that it's the best way to get through troubles is to just throw yourself into them and you'll all come out smiling the other side. And Betsey will know no difference - and it'll all be normal for you guys very soon. Plus, the fish super was good - love a fish super

jw mrsb yeah - 4am call ....I'll just put a shrieking Verity to the phone - that'll make you wince!

Met up with friends at Hughenden Manor and decided to embark on very steep hilly walk I'm still flushed from pushing the pram.....whah - how unfit? Snowdon next I think

mrsb yeah that blinkin DM website is a bit addictive. Mind you, they paid my wages on and off for a while - so I can't slag 'em off too much!

Six people round for dinner tomorrow - feel I should start now!! Definately feeling cake withdrawal....the teeny bit this morning didn't count. I've still not had my coffee and walnut cake - reckon I'm gonna have to make it myself.

6 for dinner? Are you mad woman? What's with the making life hard for yerself? I've got no one for dinner apart from DH and DSS and I wouldn't feed them if I could get out of it. I've got a piece of beef which DH would live on every day if I'd make it. Roast beef and yorkshire puds....DSS will just demand mash and gravy and leave everything else. I dunno why I go through the pretence each time of giving him a full meal.

And walking up hills? Again...are you mad woman? Was there a giant cake at the top or some other fantastic incentive?

I'm with you on throwing yourself into troubles. I find that if I dwell on them too much (which I'm very much inclinded to do given the chance) then they magnify, multiply and before you know it, I'm crying into a big cake and the blinkin problem hasn't even occurred yet! Hence, I'm not thinking about the next ECG in 2 weeks. If it's surgery, then it's surgery. But I won't worry about it until the words are utterred...and then I shan't panic but plan planning good, 4 legs bad.

Actually, I must confess I do look at DM website each morning to see a) who is screwing who b) who has been locked up since I last looked c) who looks fat and ugly in a bikini and d)some drunken celeb stumbling out of a club.

I await Verity's call

jj I'll see your Verity's shriek and I'll raise you one of Darragh's sudden hollers

I am currently trying to get the wee bugger off to sleep as I have cooked one of Thomasina Myers' Mexican thingies and I had to send away for ancho chillies offa the t'interweb so I will be blowed if I'm eating it with him screechin' down my lughole So..it may be a late supper. Very late. Again.

What's all this walkin' up hills malarky? Unless it was in the pursuit of cake there's no excuse for it.

Oh 'eck, looks like he's drifting off - I'm off to check on my el mojo greens...

Good lord mrsB I'm stunned by your dedication to the recipe. You are now tucking into a fabulous dinner (albeit fashionably late - not French are you?)while I'm in bed, typing this in the dark!

Iris is screaming while DP tries to placate her and we were planning to listen to Radio 4 comedy in bed on the laptop (no that's not code for Porn!)....ho hum, no chance now. Verity is actually asleep.......but for how long?

oh I'm always trying out new recipes me...this one worked v well and guess what the LO stayed asleep! We'll be paying for it no doubt at 4am but hey ho

We are hoping to push our luck and watch a download of Dexter in bed but I think that may well go the way of your Radio 4 play jj

OOOh hot nights with R4! Could be a goer I suppose.

And mrsb you're certainly dedicated to the cause sending away for ingredients! I'm just a lazy sod I guess and if it isn't smiley faces with fish fingers, then it's too much effort.

Well, sorry didn't join you ladies last night as K slept through until 6.30am! I did put my request in early on in pregnancy for a baby that slept through as none of my other 3 did so hopefully, request granted. I've bought some of the Johnsons lavender baby oil and I've started giving her a massage after her evening bath so mebbe it's helping. I dunno what it is but I'm not complaining.

I know what you mean about crying babies as you're trying to eat. I seem to have one foot rocking her crib at every meal time...and she must be able to smell the food as she always wakes up.

G'd Mornin'. Would have rendezvous'd with everyone (except JW ),at 4.30am if I had known...oh the joy of a lo with a cold, especially when you have one yourself. Why do these things always arrive when you have something on? We should have been at a pearl wedding anniversary party last night, but Alex was running a bit of a temperature and was clingy and tearful and obviously not up to it, so I sat at home wiping his nose(and blowing mine)and eating chocolate buttons (the only sweeties in the house, Alexs'...I have no will power...I actually deserve to look like Peter Kay in drag )while Dh went off and had fun ...at least we earned Brownie points for not spreading our bugs around.
..got to go clear up..Alex has found the box of tissues..its like an explosion in the Andrex factory here!

FloriaTosca sending you get well hugs and wishes to you and LO. Hope you're both feeling better very soon.

It's always at the wrong time isn't it (as if getting ill there was ever a right time)? I love it how the men 'soldier on'

Don't be too harsh on yourself re the Peter kay thingy. I've seen your pic on Facebook and you're a babe! (I'm sure your DH would agree too).

Afternoon all. The pressure cooking is a hissing, the apple crumble is done and all I have to do now is the spuds...dontcha just love cooking for 6

Anyway - I was with you all (except JW - pah - it won't last!) at 4am - and at 1am, 2am, 3am...you get the picture. In the end - she just slept with me until DP got into bed - didn't realise she was there and almost squashed her! I was almost in tears with tiredness this morning. Really fancy all the family round at 4pm.......

floriatosca Love the exposion in an Andrex factory analogy - I sooo understand. Luckily, the girls have been germ-free for a few weeks....fingers crossed it stays that way. I've not seen your facebook pic - bet I'm betting you don't look a tad like Mr Kay in drag!

Did anyone see Strictly Come Dancing? Is it me - or is Cherie Lunghi enviable hot? I mean, she's 56 FFS!!!! I think I want to be her - she has now become me style idol!!

Anyway - off to sort out the food....grrrr BTW- walking up hills has lost me a clothes sizes VERY pleasing. Reckon if I keep going I'll get back to pre-baby clothes......or have a heart attack

hello, haven't managed to get to com for a couple of days, I wonder if I can persuade DH to buy a lap top that actually works, as you have to plug in the old brick we have which doesn't make it very portable.
ladymac sorry to hear about Betsey's results, but it seems like she has been hearing something if you have been snuggled close so that is positive.
I have uploaded a couple of pictures of Oliver to my profile.
Oliver got weighed on Friday and he has put on 60g which is great. The breast feeding/topping up/expressing regime has gone totally to pot over the weekend though as it is so hard to fit it in with Ben as well. I'll get back to it on Monday.
JJ you must be totally exhausted what a nightmare night. I hope you put extra sugar in the apple to increase your energy levels.

hedgepig just seen baby hedgepig on Facebook and he's adorable Hope that you're all settling into a routine and don't worry about the feeding regime...he's gaining weight and that's all he needs to do

jj you must be mental having a load of people round when really you'd like to treat yourself to coma and get some rest. I'm so grumpy when I'm tired so dunno about you but I wouldn't be good company with 6, esp after cooking all that grub beforehand

Really impressed you've lost your clothes. Or was it a clothes size? Seriously, well done. Between the girls not sleeping and hill walking you'll soon be a size zero.

Don't watch strictly come dancing I'm afraid so can't comment on Ms Lunghi. I think she had a baby when she was 'old' and I was reading that Arlene Philips had a baby at 47!

Anyway, DH is seriously in the dog house today as once again he got up after 10am complaining about his back. Ahem, I've been up since just past 6am and done all chores. Now he thinks he's hard done by and flounced off. Ah well f**k him. He'll be back when he's hungry

hedgepig awww he looks so sweet a little smasher - good news that he's putting on weight for you!

Cherie Lunghi? not overly familiar with her and don't really watch Strictly but I did see summat on the Daily Mail website (where else ) about her "sizzling" dance. Good on her. Of course all we "older" mothers are dead sexy don'cha know- apparently the gorgeous Halle Berry , who is 42 and is planning to get herself up the duff again, has recently been voted the sexiest woman on the planet by some obviously discerning men's magazine. There's hope for us all yet ladies

OH did the 4am feed last night (by unspoken agreement on account of him getting a legover for the first time in oooh a very long time) but afterwards he put D into the bed *for a few mins" and promptly fell asleep. I woke up some time later on my side at the edge of the bed with the baby stuck right up to my back. I have no idea how he got there from the middle having no obvious means of propulsion but I think I will have to ban this practise ..

mrsb I'm laughing so much at your line "by unspoken agreement on account of him getting a legover for the first time in oooh a very long time". haha! That's SO me Now I think about it can't remember the last time we partook. Tbh, once I see my bed all I want to do is climb into it and sleep. Where do men find the energy for it? Anyway, well done for getting back in the saddle, so to speak

OOOh what happened when you found LO in the bed? I would have gone bonkers but again, that's just me.

Not sure about me feeling sexy at 42 (see above) but I can see where they're coming from. However Ms Berry probably has an army of staff and nannies (indeed any celeb does) and so can afford to look glam. I'm sure that I look like an extra from KISS in the mornings

To cheer myself up today I raided my stock. When I say raided I mean I picked myself a nice perfume which I haven't worn for a while. So today I'm Chanel Allure. It's nice Smellies do the trick every time. I really want CAKE but am staying away from it as I'm desperate to lose some more weight. Gosh it's soooo hard

oh my word MrsB - legover so soon, do I have to do that sort of thing again? I think I will have to wait a bit longer for the stitches to heal

hedgepig my rule of thumb is when LO starts showing signs of hair on his chin, then the time is right for vertical rhumbas

sorry, that should read 'horizontal rhumbas' unless you're very athletic that is

Evening - *runs past laptop on way to bed!

Hedgepig - He's a cutie! Love the pic of the two boys together - Ben looks thrilled with his brother Don't stress too much about the feeding (although I did - so I know it's hard) but jw is right - so long as he's putting on that weight, then that's great. And it is bloody hard work with another one to deal with....I can vouch for that!

mrsB am LOL & PMSL at your description of the loving act of intercourse between yourself and DH Just poetic. Beautiful

The dinner went well - not a scrap left on plates and the apple & pear crumble was a positive triumph. Plus they bought a lovely soft dog too - so Iris was entranced and finally plucked up courage to stroke it. Unfortunately I forgot about the cat - who pounded in through the flap only to see this HUGE dog that went nuts. Comedy moment ensued when both dog & cat were running on the spot as they couldn't get a grip on the slippy floor - absolutely hilarious. Not seen Bob since though

Nowt on telly - think it'll be a hot choccy and bed for me. jw I do hope DH has returned....

Hi All

I'm new around here. Up the Duff for the first time at 39. Will be a first time mom at 40!!!!!! (bday in Feb, due date late june!)

Someone tell me I am not insane!